Month: December 2016

Since I frequently visit a part of my family in Portugal I also have flown many times with TAP Portugal (TP) but never actually reviewed them. This time for New Year I had an other trip here and managed to get a very good deal for a multi city ticket from Frankfurt (FRA) to Lisbon (LIS) and back to Munich (MUC) where FRA to LIS was in J, my first time business class with TP so I thought it is worth writing a review.

Intra Europe business class is really nothing to write home about on almost all carriers, so I had very low expectations on this flight. Since it started with an invitation to a rather average Lufthansa business class lounge in Frankfurt I was looking forward to an uneventful and rather underwhelming experience.

On my recent flight to Lisbon (LIS) with TAP Portugal I was invited to the Lufthansa business class lounge in Frankfurt international airport (FRA) terminal 1. Since terminal 1 is the Lufthansa/Star Alliance terminal at FRA they have a very strong presence, in fact everything is Lufthansa branded – even including the gate desks.

I have been flying multiple times from Frankfurt with Etihad and Emirates, but only in terminal 2 so it was a first time for me to go to the ‘Lufthansa terminal’. Since I did not really know how big of a presence they have there I asked the check-in agent about which lounge I should use, which she replied to with ‘yes’. I then tried to clarify if there is a TAP Portugal lounge or which one I would be invited to which again she replied to with ‘yes’. I found that quite surprising since TP has only a few daily flights from FRA and it wouldn’t make sense to have their own lounge. After I realised there are only LH lounges at FRA terminal 1 now I am not sure if the agent just assumed I would know about it or if she herself didn’t know what kind of lounges there are…

Kuala Lumpur international airport terminal 1 (KUL) is the home of Malaysias national carrier Malaysia Airlines. Since it is the biggest hub for the airline MAS operates 2 separate business class lounges.

One of the lounge is located in the main terminal building – which is mostly used for domestic and regional Asia destinations – the Malaysia Airlines Regional lounge. The Malaysia Airlines Golden lounge is in first floor of the satellite building at KLIA near the C gates.

As part of my recent trip to Dubai (DXB) from Frankfurt (FRA) I opted for the obvious choice: Emirates airlines. Emirates flies to multiple destinations in Germany and features one of my favourite business class products in the skies – when it comes to their A380 fleet.

While Emirates is almost every time not the most economical choice they still manage to convince with a very nice ground service as they operate their own lounges in several airports and, as long as you don’t get one of their outdated 777 aircraft, an equally comfortable experience onboard.

On my recent short haul flight from Singapore Changi (SIN) to Kuala Lumpur (KUL) with Malaysia Airlines I used my Enrich miles to redeem the short journey in economy. Since I do not maintain any status with MAS or oneworld there was no lounge invitation.

Fortunately I can visit select Plaza Premium lounges with my Maybank Visa infinite card, and a short research online revealed that Singapore is one of the select places.

Since Kuala Lumpur is Malaysia Airlines (MAS) main hub the airline has two separate business class lounges at Kuala Lumpur international airport where it is using terminal 1. One of the lounges is located at the main terminal building – this is the regional lounge – whereas the Golden lounge is located at the satellite building with the C gates.

Both lounges have been recently refitted and offer quite good features and service compared to many other lounges around Asia. While the regional lounge is mostly used for short haul flights with MAS the Golden lounge – besides being open to oneworld status holders – works also as contract lounge for many other airlines.

On my return flight from Dubai (DXB) to Kuala Lumpur (KUL) via Bangkok (BKK) with Thai Airways I was given the choice between the Marhaba lounge and the Lufthansa lounge in Dubai international airport. I researched prior to check-in when I found only the Marhaba lounge invitation and saw a lot of rather bad reviews about it being crowded and little food spread of low quality. So I wasn’t exactly thrilled about going there.

Upon check-in I was informed that I could also use the Lufthansa lounge, since Thai airways is star alliance same as Lufthansa that made sense. I guess Marhaba as a contract lounge is just their main lounge since they don’t want to put everyone in the smaller Lufthansa lounge.

For this years Christmas trip I decided to fly back to Germany and spend some weeks in Europe. Earlier in October Oman Air had an amazing sale for flights originating in Kuala Lumpur with awesome rates for business class tickets.

Naturally for roughly MYR4,000 (~USD900) roundtrip from KUL to Munich (MUC) via Muscat (MCT) I could not resist, especially since there are many great reviews for the Oman Air J product. After I booked this flight I did also request a status match from my Skywards card to Oman Air Sindbad, which was approved within a few days.

On my recent flight from Kuala Lumpur (KUL – KLIA) to Dubai (DXB) via Bangkok (BKK) with Thai Airways I was invited to use the Thai Lounge located in the satellite building of KL international Airport Terminal 1.

KL international airport is located some 50 minutes outside of Kuala Lumpur and can be reached by car/taxi or the KLIA ekspress train from KL sentral station. It is divided in two terminals, KLIA which is used by all full service carriers and features extensive duty free shops, restaurants and airport lounges and KLIA2 which is like a mall with an integrated LCC terminal (mostly used by AirAsia).

After arriving at Riga international airport (RIX) with airBaltic this December I made my way down into the old town of Riga to check-in at the Pullman Riga Old Town. I booked the hotel with my LeClub points as a short pre-xmas vacation, since I have never been to Eastern Europe I thought it could be nice to check it out.

Prior to arrival I requested the hotel via email to quote airport pickup for me, I never received a reply from them which turned out to be the start into a stay with one of the most terrible experience I ever had at any hotel, let alone a 5* accor property.